Publisher details

Author: Tara June Winch
Publisher: University of Queensland Press
Genre: Australian Fiction
Released: 01 May, 2006
ISBN: 9780702235214

Swallow the Air

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Synopsis

Winner of the David Unaipon Award for Indigenous WritersWhen May's mother dies suddenly, she and her brother Billy are taken in by Aunty. However, their loss leaves them both searching for their place in a world that doesn't seem to want them. While Billy takes his own destructive path, May sets off to find her father and her Aboriginal identity. Her journey leads her from the Australian east coast to the far north, but it is the people she meets, not the destinations, that teach her what it is to belong. In this startling debut, Tara June Winch uses a fresh voice and unforgettable imagery to share her vision of growing up on society's fringes.Swallow the Air is the story of living in a torn world and finding the thread to help sew it back together.About the authorTara June Winch is an Australian writer based in France and Australia. She has written essay, short fiction and memoir for Vogue, Vice, McSweeneys, and various Australian publications and anthologies. Her first novel Swallow the Air, won numerous literary awards and has been on the education and HSC syllabus for Standard and Advanced English in Australia since 2009.

About the author

Tara June Winch

Tara June Winch is a Wiradjuri author, born in Australia in 1983 and based in France. Her first novel, Swallow the Air was critically acclaimed. She was named a Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelist, and has won numerous literary awards for Swallow the Air. A 10th Anniversary edition was published in 2016. In 2008, Tara was mentored by Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka as part of the prestigious Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. Her second book, the story collection After the Carnage was published in 2016. After the Carnage was longlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for fiction, shortlisted for the 2017 NSW Premier’s Christina Stead prize for Fiction and the Queensland Literary Award for a collection. She wrote the Indigenous dance documentary, Carriberrie, which screened at the 71st Cannes Film Festival and toured internationally. The Yield won the 2020 Miles Franklin Literary Award as well as the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, the People's Choice Award and Book of the Year at the 2020 NSW Premier's Literary Awards.